Great Haven Orchards

July's fake ad

by Jay Forstner

posted 8/3/2012

We received 81 correct entries from clever Fake Adders last month. And one from Dean McLaughlin.

The ad, on page 57 of the July Observer, was for Great Haven Orchards, with the name of our June winner, Tom Jameson, hidden in the line “James only thought his peach was giant.”

“The July Fake Ad was so ‘real’ and low key in appearance, it was difficult to detect!” wrote Diane Fenske. “Very nicely done.” “As a former middle school teacher I caught your reference to James and the Giant Peach. Am I the only one who found Roald Dahl and his books a little creepy?” asked Diane Cupps.

“Your most clever ad I’ve seen!” wrote Robert Koernke. “I passed it by, a couple of times, thinking that the ‘James and the giant peach’ gag was dorky, however the ad looked ever so real, with the ‘Great Haven Orchards’ and the ‘Ann Arbor Farmers Market.’” Not only did Koernke manage to describe the Fake Ad as both “clever” and “dorky” in the same email, he was also chosen as our winner. He’s taking his gift certificate to Zingerman’s.

To enter this month’s contest, find the fake ad in the August issue and follow the instructions in the box on the bottom of the Back Page. The Fake Ad always contains the name of last month’s winner in some form.   

[Originally published in August, 2012.]